Systems, devices and methods for integrated display and management of transportation resources

ABSTRACT

Exemplary embodiments provide transportation management systems, devices and methods that allow display and management of transportation resources and operations in an integrated manner. Exemplary embodiments may provide, for example, a single dynamic and interactive interface for executing inbound transportation operations (procurement or pickup), outbound transportation operations (delivery or shipment), and operations in which multiple transportation resources are matched to one another.

BACKGROUND

Transportation management systems allow management of inbound (pickup orprocurement) and/or outbound (delivery or shipment) transportationoperations. Certain conventional transportation systems utilize maps todisplay the geographical locations of mobile resources, e.g., trucksand/or trailers, but do not support direct user interaction with asingle map to execute transportation operations in an integrated manner.As a result, these conventional transportation systems require the userto utilize additional interfaces, in addition to a map display of mobiletransportation resources in order to execute transportation operations.

SUMMARY

Exemplary embodiments provide transportation management systems, devicesand methods that allow management of transportation resources andexecution of transportation operations in an integrated manner on asingle interactive user interface. Exemplary embodiments may provide,for example, a single dynamic and interactive user interface that allowsa user to define and execute one or more inbound transportationoperations, one or more outbound transportation operations, and/or oneor more matching operations in which two or more transportationresources are matched to one another.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, a computer-implementedmethod is provided for allowing management of transportation resources.The method includes rendering, using a computer, a map of a geographicalregion on a user interface. The method includes rendering, using thecomputer, representations of one or more available transportationresources on the map at representations of their current geographicallocations, and rendering representations of one or more unassigned loadson the map at representations of their current geographical locations.The method includes receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,representations of a first set of one or more transportation resourcesand representations of a first set of one or more loads. The method alsoincludes user input defining, directly on the user interface, atransportation operation in which the first set of transportationresources are assigned to transport the first set of loads from ageographical pickup location to a geographical destination location. Themethod includes executing code to perform the transportation operationbased on the user input on the user interface.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, a computer system isprovided for allowing management of transportation resources. The systemincludes a display device for displaying a user interface. The userinterface renders a map of a geographical region, representations of aset of one or more available transportation resources rendered atrepresentations of their current geographical locations, andrepresentations of a set of one or more unassigned loads rendered atrepresentations of their current geographical locations. The system alsoincludes a processor programmed to receive user input selecting,directly on the map, representations of a first set of one or moretransportation resources and representations of a first set of one ormore loads. The processor is programmed to receive user input defining,directly on the user interface, a transportation operation in which thefirst set of transportation resources are assigned to transport thefirst set of loads from a geographical pickup location to a geographicaldestination location. The processor is also programmed to execute codeto perform the transportation operation based on the user input on theuser interface.

In accordance with another exemplary embodiment, one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executableinstructions are provided for performing a method for allowingmanagement of transportation resources. The method includes rendering,using a computer, a map of a geographical region on a user interface.The method includes rendering, using the computer, representations of aset of one or more available transportation resources on the map atrepresentations of their current geographical locations, andrepresentations of a set of one or more unassigned loads rendered on themap at representations of their current geographical locations. Themethod includes receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,representations of a first set of one or more transportation resourcesand representations of a first set of one or more loads, and defining,directly on the user interface, a transportation operation in which thefirst set of transportation resources are assigned to transport thefirst set of loads from a geographical pickup location to a geographicaldestination location. The method includes executing code to perform thetransportation operation based on the user input on the user interface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects, aspects, features and advantages ofexemplary embodiments will be more fully understood from the followingdescription when read together with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for providing auser interface for executing inbound transportation operations.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of using a userinterface provided in accordance with exemplary embodiments forexecuting inbound and/or outbound transportation operations.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another exemplary method of using auser interface provided in accordance with exemplary embodiments forexecuting inbound and/or outbound transportation operations.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary user interface for executing inbound and/oroutbound transportation operations.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for providing auser interface for matching two or more transportation resources to oneanother.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary method of using a userinterface provided in accordance with exemplary embodiments for matchingtwo or more transportation resources to one another.

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface for executing transportationresource matching operations.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary class for representing a typeof a transportation resource.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an exemplary class for representing loads.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device that may beused to perform any of the exemplary methods disclosed herein.

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an exemplary network environment suitable for adistributed implementation of exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Exemplary embodiments address deficiencies of conventionaltransportation management systems that require multiple displays orinterfaces for the display and management of transportation resourcesand operations. Exemplary embodiments may provide transportationmanagement systems, devices and methods that allow display andmanagement of transportation resources and operations in an integratedmanner. Exemplary embodiments may provide, for example, a single dynamicand interactive interface for defining and executing inboundtransportation operations (i.e., procurement or pickup operations),outbound transportation operations (i.e., delivery or shipmentoperations), and operations in which multiple transportation resourcescan be matched to one another (i.e., transportation resource matchingoperations). An exemplary dynamic and interactive interface provided inaccordance with exemplary embodiments provides an efficient, convenientand streamlined manner of defining and executing transportationoperations, and avoids the need for providing multiple interfaces and/orinformational materials (e.g., separate maps or listings of loads ortransportation resources) for defining and executing transportationoperations.

In some exemplary embodiments, a separate user interface may be providedfor each type of transportation operation, for example, a first userinterface for performing inbound operations, a second user interface forperforming outbound operations, a third user interface for performingtransportation resource matching operations, and the like. In otherexemplary embodiments, a single user interface may be used to performtwo or more transportation operations.

Certain terms are defined below to facilitate understanding of exemplaryembodiments.

As used herein, a “transportation resource” is a set of one or moreresources that may be used to perform a transportation operationincluding, but not limited to, a vehicle (e.g., truck, van, bicycle, andthe like), a non-motorized transport structure (e.g., trailer, and thelike), an operator of a vehicle, a person who may manually transport aload, or any combination of the above.

As used herein, a “load” is a set of one or more physical objects thatmay be transported.

As used herein, a “transportation operation” is any operation involvingone or more transportation resources including, but not limited to,dispatching one or more transportation resources to pick up or procureone or more loads, dispatching one or more transportation resources todeliver or ship one or more loads, combining two or more transportationresources together (e.g., combining a truck with a trailer), and thelike.

As used herein, a “representation” of an entity on a user interface isany suitable audio-visual designation for the entity that may be viewedby a user on the interface and that may, in some embodiments, beselected and/or manipulated by the user. Exemplary representations ofentities may include, but are not limited to, icons, pictures orpictograms, text, audio, a combination of the foregoing, and the like.Exemplary entities that may be represented on exemplary user interfacesinclude, but are not limited to, loads, transportation resources,geographical locations, and the like.

As used herein, a “pointing device” is any suitable input interface,specifically, a human interface device, that allows a user to inputspatial data to a computing system or device. In an exemplaryembodiment, the pointing device may allow a user to provide input to thecomputer using physical gestures, for example, pointing, clicking,dragging, dropping, etc. Exemplary pointing devices may include, but arenot limited to, a mouse, a touchpad, and the like.

As used herein, a “drag-and-drop” operation is the action of selecting afirst component rendered on a user interface by “grabbing” it (e.g.,using a persistent mouse click) and dragging the first component to adifferent location on the user interface or onto a second componentrendered on the user interface. Exemplary drag-and-drop operations maybe performed by the user using a pointing device, e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, and the like.

Exemplary embodiments are described below with reference to thedrawings. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that exemplaryembodiments are not limited to the illustrative embodiments, and thatcomponents of exemplary systems, devices and methods are not limited tothe illustrative embodiments described below.

I. Exemplary Inbound and Outbound Transportation Operations

Exemplary systems, devices and methods may be used to define and executeone or more inbound transportation operations (procurement or pickup) inwhich one or more transportation resources are dispatched to pick up oneor more unassigned loads from their current geographical locations anddeliver them to one or more geographical destination locations.Exemplary systems, devices and methods may also be used to define andexecute one or more outbound transportation operations (delivery orshipment) in which one or more transportation resources are dispatchedto deliver one or more unassigned loads from their current geographicallocations to one or more geographical destination locations.

An exemplary integrated transportation management system may provide andrender a single user interface that displays representations of one ormore transportation resources, representations of one or more loads,and/or representations of one or more geographical locations. The singleuser interface allows a user to perform a transportation operation bydispatching one or more transportation resources to transport one ormore loads to their geographical destination locations. In an exemplaryembodiment, the user may use a drag-and-drop operation to perform thetransportation operation, for example, by dragging and dropping arepresentation of a transportation resource onto a representation of aload, or by dragging and dropping a representation of a load onto arepresentation of a transportation resource.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 100 forproviding and rendering an exemplary graphical user interface configuredto allow a user to execute one or more inbound and/or outboundtransportation operations.

In step 102, an exemplary integrated transportation management systemmay provide and render a graphical user interface on a display device.The user interface may be configured to allow a user to interact with asingle dynamic geographical map to define and execute one or moretransportation operations.

In step 104, a dynamic and interactive map of a geographical region ofinterest may be provided and rendered on the user interface. The map maybe interactive in that a user may select, manipulate and performoperations on components rendered on the map using, for example, apointing device. A user may also perform other functions on the mapincluding, but not limited to, zooming in, zooming out, panning to adifferent region on the map, and the like. The map may be dynamic inthat it may include movable and/or moving components (e.g.,representations of trucks) whose geographical locations may be trackedand updated on the map at time intervals or in real time. Thegeographical region of interest may be of any suitable granularity, forexample, the world, a country, a state, a city, a part of a city, acollection of buildings, a single building, a single room, and the like.The map may include any suitable information on the geographical regionof interest, for example, traffic conditions, weather conditions, andthe like.

In step 106, representations of zero, one or more transportationresources may be rendered on the user interface to populate the map. Inan exemplary embodiment, all transportation resources located within thescope of the map are represented on the user interface. In anotherexemplary embodiment, only available transportation resources (i.e.,transportation resources that have available capacity to transport aload) located within the scope of the map are represented on the userinterface. The current geographical locations of the transportationresources may be tracked, for example, by a global positioning system(GPS) device and/or a geographical information system (GIS), anddynamically updated on the map at time intervals (e.g., once everyminute) or in real time as they move throughout the geographical regionof interest. In an exemplary embodiment, the map may be refreshed attime intervals, in real time and/or by a user prompt in order to updatethe representations of available transportation resources andrepresentations of their current geographical locations on the map.

The user interface may include any suitable information on thetransportation resources including, but not limited to, type, size,capacity, availability status, towing capability, operator, and thelike. The information may be presented on the user interface using anysuitable technique, for example, in a text box, as different icon types(e.g., truck icons to represent trucks, trailer icons to representtrailers, special icons to represent refrigerated and non-refrigeratedtrucks, etc.), as different colored icons (e.g., red for unavailabletransportation resources, green for available transportation resources),and the like. The user interface may allow selection of representationsof one or more transportation resources directly on the map or in aseparate component of the interface, e.g., in a text box or selectionpanel.

In step 108, representations of zero, one or more loads may be renderedon the user interface to populate the map. In an exemplary embodiment,all loads located within the scope of the map are represented on theuser interface. In another exemplary embodiment, only unassigned loads(i.e., loads that have not yet been assigned for transportation) locatedwithin the scope of the map are represented on the user interface. Thegeographical locations of the loads may be tracked, for example, by aglobal positioning system (GPS) device and/or a geographical informationsystem (GIS), and dynamically updated on the map at time intervals(e.g., once every minute) or in real time as they move throughout thegeographical region of interest. In an exemplary embodiment, the map maybe refreshed at time intervals, in real time and/or by a user prompt toupdate the representations of unassigned loads and representations oftheir geographical locations on the map.

The user interface may include any suitable information on the loadsincluding, but not limited to, type, size, priority level, assignmentstatus, vendor identification, one or more geographical destinationlocations of the load, and the like. The information may be presented onthe user interface using any suitable technique, for example, in a textbox or pop-up text component (e.g., to indicate a geographicaldestination location for the load), as different icon types (e.g., loadicons to represent loads, special icons to represent perishable loads,etc), as different colored icons (e.g., red for unassigned loads, greenfor assigned loads), and the like. The user interface may allowselection of representations of one or more loads directly on the map orin a separate component of the interface, e.g., in a text box orselection panel.

Optionally, in step 110, representations of zero, one or moregeographical destination locations associated with the loads may berendered on the user interface to populate the map. In another exemplaryembodiment, representations of the geographical destination locationsmay be provided separately from the map, e.g., in a pop-up component onthe interface. In an exemplary embodiment, a pre-defined geographicallocation may be used as the geographical destination location for allassigned loads in a certain geographical region. In this case, arepresentation of the pre-defined geographical location may or may notbe rendered on the map. In another exemplary embodiment, the user may beallowed to define one or more geographical destination locationsassociated with one or more loads using the interface. Once thegeographical destination locations are represented on the interface, theinterface may allow selection of the representations of one or moregeographical destination locations directly on the map or in a separatecomponent of the interface, e.g., in a text box or selection panel.

In step 112, the user interface may receive user input to assign one ormore transportation resources to transport one or more loads using thedynamic and interactive map.

In step 114, based on the user's definition of a transportationoperation, the system may automatically update the representations ofthe transportation resources and loads on the user interface. Inexemplary embodiments, information on the transportation resources andloads may be automatically updated in any relevant databases. Forexample, the user interface and/or the databases may be updated toindicate that an assigned transportation resource is no longer availableand that an assigned load is no longer unassigned. The user interfacemay also track and update the representations of the currentgeographical locations of the assigned transportation resource and loadon the map at time intervals or in real time.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 200 of usingthe exemplary user interface provided in method 100 of FIG. 1 to executean inbound and/or outbound transportation operation in which a load istransported from its current geographical location (e.g., a vendorlocation or a storage location) to a geographical destination location(e.g., a store location or a storage location).

In step 202, the user interface may receive user input selectingrepresentations of one or more unassigned loads on the map, i.e., loadsthat have not yet been assigned to a transportation resource fortransportation. The user may select representations of the loads usingany suitable technique including, but not limited to, clicking on arepresentation of the load on the map, selecting an identifier for theload in a panel associated with the map, using a voice command toidentify the load, and the like.

In step 204, the integrated transportation management system mayoptionally analyze one or more characteristics of the load selected instep 202 to refine representations of one or more transportationresources on the map to indicate resources that may be particularlysuitable for transporting the selected load. The refinement of thedisplay of transportation resource representations may includedisplaying representations of only a suitable sub-set of the resourcesinitially displayed, or highlighting the suitable sub-set withinrepresentations of all of the resources initially displayed. Exemplaryembodiments may store predefined mappings between characteristics ofloads and corresponding suitable characteristics of transportationresources in a database. Exemplary embodiments may retrieve and analyzethese mappings in determining a suitable sub-set of transportationresources in step 204.

In one example, the geographical location of the selected load may beused to display or highlight a sub-set of transportation resources thatare within a certain distance of the selected load. In another example,the type of the selected load (e.g., non-perishable or perishable,non-hazardous or hazardous, etc.) may be used to display or highlight asub-set of transportation resources that are suitable for transportingthe type of load (e.g., refrigerated trucks may be more suitable forperishable loads). In another example, the weight and/or volume of theselected load may be used to display or highlight a sub-set oftransportation resources that are capable of transporting the load(e.g., a van may be more suitable for transporting a small load, while atruck may be more suitable for transporting a large load). In otherexamples, a combination of two or more load characteristics may be usedto refine the representations of suitable transportation resources.

In step 206, the user interface may receive user input selectingrepresentations of one or more available transportation resources on themap for transporting the load selected in step 202. The user may selectthe representation of the transportation resource using any suitabletechnique including, but not limited to, using a pointing device to dragand drop a representation of the selected load onto a representation ofthe selected transportation resource, using a pointing device to firstclick on a representation of the selected load and subsequently click ona representation of the selected transportation resource, selecting anidentifier for the transportation resource in a panel associated withthe map, using a voice command to identify the transportation resource,and the like.

Optionally, the integrated transportation management system may allowautomatic selection of representations of one or more availabletransportation resources for transporting the load selected in step 202.In step 208, the integrated transportation management system may analyzeone or more characteristics of the load selected in step 202 andautomatically select representations of one or more suitable availabletransportation resources on the map for transporting the selected load.Exemplary characteristics of the load that may be analyzed in step 208are similar to and described in connection with the characteristics thatmay be used in step 204. If no suitable available transportationresource is available for transporting the selected load, the integratedtransportation management system may indicate this to the user. In step210, the integrated transportation management system may allow the userto review the automatic selection of the transportation resource andeither approve or reject the selection. If the user rejects theautomatic suggestion or selection, the integrated transportationmanagement system may automatically select a representation of anothersuitable available transportation resource or may prompt the user for aselection.

In an exemplary embodiment, a pre-defined geographical location may beused as the geographical destination location for the load, e.g., astore location or a storage location. In another exemplary embodiment,in step 210, the system may optionally allow the user to select arepresentation of a geographical destination location for the load. Therepresentation of the geographical destination location may be selectedusing any suitable technique. In an example, the user may type thedestination address (e.g., the street address) into the user interface.In another example, the user may use a pointing device to drag and dropa representation of the combined transportation resource and load (e.g.,representing a truck and its assigned load) onto a representation of thegeographical destination location on the map. In another example, theuser may use a voice command to enter the destination address.

Subsequently, in step 212, the integrated transportation managementsystem may automatically dispatch an assignment to the selectedtransportation resource to transport the selected load from its currentgeographical location to the geographical destination location. Theassignment may include any suitable information on the assignmentincluding, but not limited to, an identifier for the load, the currentgeographical location of the load, the destination address for the load,the time-frame for completing the operation, and the like. An exemplaryassignment may be dispatched to a suitable entity using any suitabletechnique including, but not limited to, electronic data interchange(EDI) messaging, email, fax, voice message, paging, and the like. Theentity may be any suitable person(s) including, but not limited to, thedriver of the transportation resource, the supervisor of the driver ofthe transportation resource, a transportation manager, and the like. Theoperator may have the option of accepting or rejecting the assignment,which may then be communicated to the integrated transportationmanagement system.

If the operator accepts the assignment, in step 214, the integratedtransportation management system may automatically update the status ofthe selected load and the selected resource on the map and/or in anyrelevant databases to indicate that the selected load has been assignedto a resource and that the selected transportation resource is no longeravailable. The transportation resource may again be indicated as beingavailable once the transportation operation is completed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates another exemplary method 300 ofusing the exemplary user interface provided in method 100 of FIG. 1 toexecute an inbound and/or an outbound operation in which a load istransported from its current geographical location (e.g., a vendorlocation or a storage location) to a geographical destination location(e.g., a store location or a storage location).

In step 302, the user interface may receive user input selectingrepresentations of one or more available transportation resources on themap, i.e., transportation resources that have available capacity totransport a load. The user may select the representations of thetransportation resources using any suitable technique including, but notlimited to, clicking on a representation of the transportation resourceon the map, selecting an identifier for the transportation resource in apanel associated with the map, using a voice command to identify thetransportation resource, and the like.

In step 304, the integrated transportation management system mayoptionally analyze one or more characteristics of the transportationresource selected in step 302 to refine the representations of the loadson the map to indicate the loads that may be particularly suitable fortransportation using the selected transportation resource. Therefinement of the load representations may include displayingrepresentations of only a suitable sub-set of the loads initiallydisplayed, or highlighting the suitable sub-set within representationsof all of the loads initially displayed. Exemplary embodiments may storepredefined mappings between characteristics of transportation resourcesand corresponding suitable characteristics of loads in a database.Exemplary embodiments may retrieve and analyze these mappings indetermining a suitable sub-set of loads in step 304.

In one example, the geographical location of the selected transportationresource may be used to display or highlight representations of asub-set of loads that are within a certain distance of the selectedtransportation resource. In another example, the type of the selectedtransportation resource (e.g., refrigerated or non-refrigerated) may beused to display or highlight representations of a sub-set of loads thatare suitable for transportation using the type of transportationresource (e.g., perishable loads may be more suitable for transportationby refrigerated trucks). In another example, the size of thetransportation resource may be used to display or highlightrepresentations of a sub-set of loads that the selected transportationresource is suitable for transporting (e.g., a small load may be moresuitable for transportation using a van, while a large load may be moresuitable for transportation using a truck). In other examples, acombination of two or more transportation resource characteristics maybe used to refine the representations of suitable loads.

In step 306, the user interface may receive user input selectingrepresentations of one or more unassigned loads on the map fortransportation using the transportation resource selected in step 302.The user may select representations of the loads using any suitabletechnique including, but not limited to, using a pointing device to dragand drop a representation of the selected transportation resource onto arepresentation of the selected load, using a pointing device to click ona representation of the selected transportation resource andsubsequently clicking on a representation of the selected load,selecting an identifier for the load in a panel associated with the map,using a voice command identifying the load, and the like.

Optionally, the integrated transportation management system may allowautomatic selection of representations of one or more unassigned loadsfor transportation using the transportation resource selected in step302. In step 308, the integrated transportation management system mayanalyze one or more characteristics of the transportation resourceselected in step 302 and automatically select representations of one ormore suitable unassigned loads on the map for transportation using theselected transportation resource. Exemplary characteristics of thetransportation resource that may be analyzed in step 308 are similar toand are described in connection with the characteristics that may beused in step 304. If no suitable unassigned load is available fortransportation using the selected transportation resource, theintegrated transportation management system may indicate this to theuser. In step 310, the integrated transportation management system mayallow the user to review the automatic selection of the load and eitherapprove or reject the automatic selection. If the user rejects theautomatic selection, the integrated transportation management system mayautomatically select the representation of another suitable unassignedload or may prompt the user for a selection.

Steps 312, 314 and 316 of method 300 are similar to and described inconnection with steps 212, 214 and 216 of method 200.

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface 400 that may beprovided using method 100 of FIG. 1 and that may be used to performmethod 200 of FIG. 2 and method 300 of FIG. 3. In an exemplaryembodiment, interface 400 may include a menu 402 of general optionsincluding, but not limited to, a “File” menu item 404 that may allow theuser to start a new session, save the current session, print the currentsession, exit the interface, and the like; a “View” menu item 406 thatmay allow the user to configure the view of the interface (e.g., selecta textual view and/or graphical view); a “Tools” menu item 408 that mayallow the user to configure other options relevant to the interface(e.g., select the databases that may be accessed to populate the userinterface); and a “Help” menu item 410 that may provide information onusing the interface.

In an exemplary embodiment, interface 400 may include an operationselection panel 412 that allows the user to select a type oftransportation operation including, but not limited to, a selectable“perform matching operation” option 414 that allows the user to matchtwo or more transportation resources to one another, a selectable“perform inbound operation” option 416 that allows the user to dispatchone or more transportation resources to pick up one or more loads, and aselectable “perform outbound operation” option 418 that allows the userto dispatch one or more transportation resources to drop off one or moreloads. In an exemplary embodiment, the “perform inbound operation”option 416 and the “perform outbound operation” option 418 may becombined into a single option that may be represented as a singleselectable component on the user interface.

In an exemplary embodiment, interface 400 may include an operationdetails panel 420 that is associated with an operation selected in theoperation selection panel 412. The operation details panel 420 may berendered and populated based on the option selected by the user in theoperation selection panel 420. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary operationdetails panel 420 associated with a “perform inbound operation” or a“perform outbound operation” selection in panel 412.

An exemplary operation details panel 420, associated with a “performinbound operation” or a “perform outbound operation,” may display adynamic and interactive map of a particular geographical region (e.g.,Ga., Atlanta in FIG. 4). The map may include dynamically updatedrepresentations of one or more available transportation resources andone or more unassigned loads, for example, truck 422 and loads 424 and426. The transportation resources and loads may be represented on themap using any suitable audio-visual component including, but not limitedto, icons, small pictures, and the like. The current geographicallocations of the transportation resources and loads may be tracked, forexample, by a global positioning system (GPS) device and/or ageographical information system (GIS), and dynamically updated on themap at time intervals (e.g., once every minute) or in real time as theymove throughout the region. The map may include any suitable informationon the geographical region (e.g., traffic conditions, weatherconditions), the transportation resources (e.g., type, size,availability status, operator, and the like), the loads (e.g., type,size, priority level, assignment status, vendor identification, and thelike). The information may be presented in panel 420 using any suitabletechnique, for example, in a text box, as different icon types (e.g.,truck icons to represent trucks, trailer icons to represent trailers,load icons to represent loads, special icons to represent refrigeratedand non-refrigerated trucks, special icons for dry and perishableloads), as different colored icons (e.g., red for unavailable trucks,green for available trucks), and the like.

Exemplary embodiments may allow the user to search for representationsof one or more particular transportation resources and/or loads on themap using one or more characteristics of the resources and/or loads asthe search criteria. Exemplary may allow the user to search forrepresentations of one or more geographical locations on the map usingone or more characteristics of the locations as the search criteria. Inan exemplary embodiment, a geographical destination location for a loadmay be pre-defined and may be associated with the load (e.g., as anattribute of the load). In another exemplary embodiment, thegeographical destination location may be defined on the user interfaceby the user. In this exemplary embodiment, the user may perform theassignment using any suitable technique including, but not limited to,using a pointing device to drag and drop the representation of truck 422onto the representation of load 424 to create a combined representationand then dragging and dropping the combined representation onto arepresentation of the geographical destination location 428 on theinterface, using a pointing device to drag and drop the representationof load 424 onto the representation of truck 422 to create a combinedrepresentation and then dragging and dropping the combinedrepresentation onto a representation of the geographical destinationlocation 428 on the interface, using voice commands to assign truck 422to deliver load 424 to the geographical destination location 428,selecting a representation of the geographical destination location in aseparate selection panel, and the like.

Exemplary embodiments may allow batch operations. In an example of abatch operation, the user may assign representations of a set of two ormore transportation resources to a representation of a particular load.The user may perform the assignment using any suitable techniqueincluding, but not limited to, using a pointing device to drag and droprepresentations of the transportation resources onto a representation ofthe load, using a pointing device to drag and drop a representation ofthe load onto representations of the transportation resources,highlighting or otherwise selecting representations of thetransportation resources and the load, using voice commands to selectrepresentations of the transportation resources and load, and the like.

In another example of a batch operation, the user may assign a set oftwo or more loads for delivery using a transportation resource to ageographical destination location. The user may perform the assignmentusing any suitable technique including, but not limited to, using apointing device to drag and drop representations of the loads onto arepresentation of the transportation resource, highlighting or otherwiseselecting representations of the transportation resource and loads,using voice commands to select the transportation resource and loads,and the like.

Exemplary embodiments may allow serial operations. In an example of aserial operation, the user may select a representation of truck 422 andassign it to a representation of load 424 and also assign it to arepresentation of load 426 serially in order to return both loads to ageographical destination location. The user may perform the serialassignments using any suitable technique including, but not limited to,using a pointing device to drag and drop the representation of truck 422first onto the representation of load 424 and then onto therepresentation of load 426, using a pointing device to drag and drop therepresentations of loads 424 and 426 onto the representation of truck422, highlighting or otherwise selecting representations of truck 422and loads 424 and 426, using voice commands to select truck 422 andloads 424 and 426, using a pointing device to drag and drop therepresentation of truck 722 first onto the representation of load 724and then onto the representation of load 726 followed by selection of arepresentation of a destination address, and the like.

The operation details panel 420 may include one or more options forreviewing and executing a transportation operation including, but notlimited to, a “review assignment” option 430 that allows the user toreview the selections of representations of transportation resources,loads and destination addresses, and a “perform assignment” option 432that allows the user to automatically execute the transportationoperation, for example, by dispatching the assignment to atransportation manager or an operator of the transportation resources.

Exemplary embodiments may allow batch operations. In an example of abatch operation, the user may assign a set of two or more transportationresources to transport a particular load. This type of batch operationmay facilitate transportation of a large load using multipletransportation resources in order to complete the transportationoperation in an efficient manner. The user may perform the above type ofbatch assignment using any suitable technique including, but not limitedto, using a pointing device to drag and drop representations of theresources onto a representation of the load, using a pointing device todrag and drop a representation of the load onto representations of theresources, combining representations of the selected transportationresources into a set representation and dragging and dropping the setrepresentation onto a representation of the load, highlighting orotherwise selecting representations of the transportation resources andthe load, using voice commands to identify the transportation resourcesand load, and the like.

In another example of a batch operation, the user may assign a set oftwo or more loads for delivery in an inbound or an outbound operationusing a transportation resource. This type of batch operation may allowa transportation resource with large capacity (e.g., carrying capacity,towing capacity) to simultaneously transport multiple loads in order tocomplete the transportation operations for the loads in an efficientmanner. For example, in a doubles run, a tractor may be configured topull multiple trailers, with each trailer carrying a load. The tractormay be assigned to pick up multiple loads using the trailers at ageographical pickup location and to drop off the loads at a commongeographical destination location or at different geographicaldestination locations. In an example of a serial operation that followsthis batch operation, the same tractor may be assigned to pick upadditional loads using the trailers at the geographical destinationlocation and to drop off the loads at the geographical pickup locationor at different geographical locations in the return leg of its travel.

The user may perform the above type of batch assignment using anysuitable technique including, but not limited to, using a pointingdevice to drag and drop representations of the loads onto arepresentation of the transportation resource, highlighting or otherwiseselecting representations of the transportation resource and loads,using a pointing device to drag and drop a representation of thetransportation resource onto representations of the loads, combiningrepresentations of the selected loads into a set representation anddragging and dropping the set representation onto a representation ofthe transportation resource, using voice commands to select thetransportation resource and loads, and the like.

Exemplary embodiments may allow serial operations in which atransportation resource is assigned to perform two or moretransportation operations one after another. In an example of a serialoperation, a user may assign a transportation resource to pick up two ormore loads and deliver them to a geographical destination location. Forexample, a truck may be assigned to shuttle loads located at differentlocations within the I285 beltway in Ga., Atlanta to a drop yard locatedoutside the beltway. The transportation resource may be assigned tocomplete the pickup and delivery of one load before moving to the nextload, or may be assigned to pick up multiple loads and deliver them atthe same time. In the above example, after the loads are delivered tothe drop yard, one or more other transportation resources may beassigned to deliver the loads at the drop yard to one or moregeographical destination locations.

The user may perform a serial operation using any suitable techniqueincluding, but not limited to, using a pointing device to drag and dropa representation of the transportation resource first onto arepresentation of a first load and then onto representations of one ormore additional loads, using a pointing device to drag and droprepresentations of multiple loads onto a representation of thetransportation resource, highlighting or otherwise selectingrepresentations of the transportation resource and the multiple loads,using voice commands to select the transportation resource and themultiple loads, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment of a serial operation, upon selection of afirst transportation operation, the integrated transportation managementsystem may automatically recommend a second transportation operation tobe performed serially to optimize the use of transportation resources.The system may analyze one or more suitable factors in making arecommendation including, but not limited to, the distance between twogeographical pickup locations. For example, if a truck is assigned topick up a first load at a first geographical pickup location, the systemmay determine that the truck has a greater available capacity than thefirst load and may recommend that the same truck pick up a second loadat the same first geographical pickup location or at a secondgeographical location that is geographically close to the firstgeographical pickup location. One of ordinary skill in the art willrecognize that exemplary interface 400 is provided for illustrativepurposes and that other suitable interfaces may include textualinterfaces or other graphical interfaces including more or fewercomponents than those illustrated in FIG. 4.

II. Exemplary Transportation Resource Matching Operations

Exemplary systems, devices and methods may be used to select a singletransportation resource (e.g., a truck, a van, a driver, etc.) toperform a transportation operation. Exemplary systems, devices andmethods may also be used to match a first transportation resource (e.g.,a truck) to one or more additional resources (e.g., a suitable trailer).An exemplary integrated transportation management system allows a userto use a single user interface to combine two or more transportationresources and/or to configure a transportation resource with one or moreadditional resources.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 500 forproviding an exemplary user interface for executing a transportationresource matching operation.

In step 502, an exemplary integrated transportation management systemmay provide and render a user interface that allows a user to define andexecute one or more transportation resource matching operations usingthe single interface.

Representations of one or more transportation resources may be renderedon the user interface. In step 504, the interface may be populated withrepresentations of zero, one or more transportation resources. Thesystem may obtain information on the transportation resources from oneor more relevant transportation resource databases. In an exemplaryembodiment, the system may display the entire set of transportationresources contained in a relevant database. In another exemplaryembodiment, the system may display a sub-set of the transportationresources based on one or more criteria, e.g., only those transportationresources that are located in a certain geographical area, only thosetransportation resources that are currently available, and the like. Thesystem may also display any suitable information on the transportationresources including, but not limited to, the geographical location ofthe resources, the size and type of the resources, the operators of theresources, and the like. The information may be presented on theinterface using any suitable technique, for example, in a text box, asdifferent icon types (e.g., truck icons to represent trucks, trailericons to represent trailers, special icons to represent refrigerated andnon-refrigerated trucks, etc.), as different colored icons (e.g., redfor unavailable transportation resources, green for availabletransportation resources), and the like. In exemplary embodiments,different categories of transportation resources may be displayedseparately from one another, for example, in separate panels for trucks,trailers, vans, bicycles, and the like.

The integrated transportation management system may allow a user toselect two or more transportation resources, concurrently orconsecutively, for matching the resources to one another. In step 506,the interface may receive user input selecting and combining two or moretransportation resources.

In step 508, based on the user's definition of a transportation resourcematching operation, the system may automatically update therepresentations of and/or information on transportation resources on theuser interface and/or in a database.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 600 of usingan exemplary user interface that may be provided in method 500 of Figurein order to match two or more transportation resources to one another.

In step 602, the user interface may receive user input selecting arepresentation of a first transportation resource, e.g., a truck. Theuser may select the transportation resource using any suitable techniqueincluding, but not limited to, clicking on a representation of theresource on the interface, using a voice command to identify thetransportation resource, and the like.

In step 604, the integrated transportation management system mayoptionally analyze one or more characteristics of the transportationresource selected in step 602 to refine the representations of the othertransportation resources on the interface to indicate the resources thatmay be particularly suitable for matching with the selected firsttransportation resource. For example, certain trailers may be moresuitable for hitching to a selected truck. The refinement of therepresentations of the transportation resources may include displayingrepresentations of only a suitable sub-set of the resources initiallydisplayed on the interface, or highlighting the suitable sub-set withinrepresentations of all of the resources initially displayed on theinterface. Exemplary embodiments may store predefined mappings amongdifferent characteristics of different types of transportationresources. Exemplary embodiments may retrieve and analyze these mappingsin determining a suitable sub-set of transportation resources in step604.

In one example, the size and/or type of the first transportationresource may be used to display or highlight representations of asub-set of additional transportation resources that are compatible withthe size and/or type of the first resource (e.g., displayingrepresentations of oversize trailers for a selected oversize truck). Inanother example, the geographical location of the first transportationresource may be used to display or highlight representations of asub-set of additional transportation resources that are within a certaingeographical distance of the first resource. In other examples, acombination of two or more characteristics of the first resource may beused to refine the representations of suitable additional resources.

In step 606, the user interface may receive user input to select one ormore additional transportation resources on the interface forconfiguring the first transportation resource selected in step 602. Theuser may select the additional one or more transportation resourcesusing any suitable technique including, but not limited to, using apointing device to drag and drop a representation of the firsttransportation resource onto representations of the additionaltransportation resources, using a pointing device to drag and droprepresentations of the additional transportation resources onto arepresentation of the first transportation resource, using a pointingdevice to click on representations of the additional transportationresources, selecting identifiers for the additional transportationresources in a panel, using a voice command to identify the additionaltransportation resources, and the like.

In step 608, the integrated transportation management system mayautomatically determine whether the additional transportation resourcesselected in step 606 are compatible with the first transportationresource selected in step 602. In exemplary embodiments, the system mayreview one or more suitable characteristics of the selected resources todetermine their compatibility. In one example, if a truck and a trailerare selected, the system may determine whether the selected truck hastowing capability. In this example, selection of a trailer and a truckwith towing capability may be determined to be compatible, whereasselection of a trailer and a truck without towing capability may bedetermined to be incompatible. In another example, the selection ofmultiple trucks may be determined to be incompatible. In anotherexample, the selection of a single truck with dual towing capability(i.e., the ability to pull two trailers) and two trailers may bedetermined to be compatible. Conversely, the selection of a single truckwith no towing capability or single towing capability (i.e., the abilityto pull a single trailer) and multiple trailers may be determined to beincompatible. To this end, exemplary embodiments may provide apredefined listing of compatible combinations and incompatiblecombinations in a database for performing step 608.

If the selections made in steps 602 and 606 are determined to beincompatible, the system may provide an incompatibility error message tothe user in step 610 and may prevent the current transportation resourcematching operation. In this case, the user may be allowed to enterdifferent selections in step 602 and/or step 606.

However, if the selections made in steps 602 and 606 are determined tobe compatible, the system may, in step 612, automatically dispatch andexecute the matching operation. An exemplary operation may be dispatchedto any suitable entity including, but not limited to, a transportationmanager, one or more operators of the selected resources, and the like.The operation may be dispatched by any suitable technique including, butnot limited to, electronic data interchange (EDI) messaging, email, fax,voice message, paging, and the like. In response, the transportationmanagement and/or the operators may configure the selected resources inthe manner defined on the interface.

In step 614, the integrated transportation management system mayautomatically update the status of the selected resources in anyrelevant databases and/or the representations on the selected resourceson the interface in order to indicate that the resources have beenmatched to one another.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary graphical interface 700 that may beprovided using method 500 of FIG. 5 and that may be used to performmethod 600 of FIG. 6. Items 702, 704, 706, 708, 710, 712, 714, 716, 718,and 720 of FIG. 7 are similar to and are described in connection withitems 402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414, 416, 418, and 420 of FIG. 4.

In an exemplary embodiment, interface 700 may include an operationdetails panel 720 that is associated with a particular type of operationselected in an operation selection panel 712. FIG. 7 illustrates anexemplary operation details panel 720 associated with the “performmatching operation” selection in panel 712. In exemplary embodiments,operation details panel 720 may display representations of one or moretransportation resources available to the user, for example, trucks 722and 724 and trailers 726 and 728. The transportation resources may berepresented on the map using any suitable audio-visual componentincluding, but not limited to, icons, small pictures, and the like. Inexemplary embodiments, operation details panel 720 may displayinformation regarding the transportation resources displayed, forexample, identifiers for the transportation resources, cargo volumes,towing capabilities, whether the resources are equipped with lift gates,current geographical locations of the resources (e.g., on a map),operators, and the like. The information may be presented in panel 720using any suitable technique, for example, in text-form (e.g., in apopup box), as different icon types (e.g., truck icons to representtrucks, trailer icons to represent trailers, special icons to representrefrigerated and non-refrigerated trucks), as different colored icons(e.g., red for unavailable trucks, green for available trucks), and thelike.

A user may select a representation of a single transportation resource,e.g., truck 722 or truck 724, to assign the corresponding transportationresource to perform a transportation operation. A user may also selectrepresentations of two or more of the displayed transportation resourcesfor use in combination, for example, truck 724 and trailer 726. The usermay review information regarding the transportation resources on theinterface 700 in order to select one or more transportation resources.For example, if a transportation operation involves curbside delivery ofa load, the user may select a transportation resource equipped with alift gate, e.g., a truck equipped with a Tommy lift gate.

In an exemplary embodiment, the interface 700 may including one or moreselection components for allowing a user to select one or morecharacteristics of a transportation operation. The interface 700 mayreceive the user's selections, analyze the selections, and automaticallydisplay and/or highlight transportation resources that are suitable forthe user's selections. For example, the user may specify that atransportation operation involves curbside delivery of a load. Inresponse to the user's specification, the interface 700 may display orhighlight only those transportation resources that are equipped with alift gate which is required to perform curbside delivery.

Exemplary embodiments may also allow the user to search for particulartransportation resources on the interface using one or morecharacteristics of the resources as the search criteria.

If the user selects representations of two or more transportationresources that are incompatible, the operation details panel 720 maydisplay an incompatibility error message to the user and prevent thematching operation. Examples of incompatibility include, but are notlimited to, matching a truck with no towing capability (e.g., truck 722)to a trailer (e.g., trailers 726 or 728), matching two trucks to eachother (e.g., trucks 722 and 724), matching two trailers to each other(e.g., trailers 726 and 728), and the like.

The operation details panel 720 may include one or more options forreviewing and executing a matching operation including, but not limitedto, a “review match” option 730 that allows the user to review theselections of transportation resource representations (e.g., truck withID “TRU2043” and trailer with ID “TRA9344”) and a “perform match” option732 that allows the user to automatically dispatch and execute thematching operation, for example, by assigning a transportationmanagement or operators of the transportation resources to configure theresources in the defined manner.

A transportation resource matching operation, performed using theinterface 700, may be used in conjunction with the interface 400 toselect one or more transportation resources and to assign the resourcesto perform one or more inbound and/or outbound transportationoperations.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that exemplary interface700 is provided for illustrative purposes and that other suitableinterfaces may include textual interfaces or other graphical interfacesincluding more or fewer components than those illustrated in FIG. 7.

III. Exemplary Object-Oriented Implementation

In some exemplary embodiments, a transportation resource managementsystem may be implemented in any suitable object-oriented programminglanguage, e.g., Java. In an exemplary object-oriented implementation,classes may be defined for different types of entities provided andrendered on a user interface in accordance with exemplary embodiments.For example, a “Truck” class may be provided to define trucks, a“Trailer” class may be provided to define trailers, a general“TransportationResource” class may be provided to generally definetransportation resources, and a “Load” class may be provided to defineloads. One or more instances may be created from each class, forexample, truck objects may be instantiated from the “Truck” class, loadobjects may be instantiated from the “Load” class, and the like. In anexemplary embodiment, a class may be defined for each type oftransportation resource, e.g., a “Truck” class associated with trucks, a“Trailer” class associated with trailers, a “Bicycle” class associatedwith bicycles, and the like.

The object instantiations may be made persistent so that the states ofthe objects may be saved during a current session and reloaded frommemory for future sessions. A class may include indications of zero, oneor more attributes associated with properties or characteristics of theclass objects. The attribute values may be specified for a particularclass object when the class is instantiated. A class may also includezero, one or more methods associated with the behavior exhibited byclass objects at program run time. The methods may have access to datastored in a class object and may be able to control or set theattributes of the class object. In an exemplary embodiment, a classinterface may be defined to provide a collection of methods common totwo or more types of transportation resources.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary “Truck” or “Trailer”class 800 for defining a type of transportation resource, morespecifically, a truck and/or a trailer. One of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize that any suitable class structure and class componentsmay be used to define a type of transportation resource, and that suchclass structures and components are not limited to the illustrativeembodiment of FIG. 8.

The class 800 may include one or more attributes 802 associated with atruck or trailer object including, but not limited to, a uniqueidentifier of the transportation resource (e.g., Truck No. 13422), oneor more types corresponding the transportation resource (e.g., oversize,refrigerated, non-refrigerated), the size of the transportation resource(e.g., dimensions, volume capacity, weight capacity), the currentavailability of the transportation resource (e.g., whether a truck iscurrently available to transport a load), the current geographicallocation of the transportation resource (e.g., a periodically updatedGPS location, a street location or a descriptive location of thetransportation resource), an operator of the transportation resource ifany (e.g., operator “Bob Smith” is the operator of Truck No. 13422),whether the transportation resource has towing capability, and the like.

The class 800 may include one or more methods 804 associated with atruck or a trailer object. Exemplary embodiments may provide a codegeneration module for generating code associated with the methods 804.The code may be executed at run time to perform the functionalityencapsulated in the methods 804.

In exemplary embodiments, the class 800 may include one or more “get”methods for obtaining the values of one or more attributes of a classobject and one or more “set” methods for setting the values of one ormore attributes of a class object. In an exemplary embodiment, a“getIdentifier” method and a “setIdentifier” method may allow obtainingand setting, respectively, the value of the “Identifier” attribute whichdesignates the unique identifier of a transportation resource object. A“getType” method and a “setType” method may allow obtaining and setting,respectively, the value of the “Type” attribute which designates one ormore types associated with a transportation resource object. A “getSize”method and a “setSize” method may allow obtaining and setting,respectively, the value of the “Size” attribute which designates thesize, volume capacity and/or weight capacity associated with atransportation resource object. A “getAvailability” method and a“setAvailability” method may allow obtaining and setting, respectively,the value of the “Availability” attribute which designates whether atransportation resource object is currently available. A “getLocation”method and a “setLocation” method may allow obtaining and setting,respectively, the value of the “Location” attribute which designates thecurrent location of a transportation resource object. A “getOperator”method and a “setOperator” method may allow obtaining and setting,respectively, the value of the “Operator” attribute which designates oneor more operators associated with a transportation resource object. A“getTowingCapability” method and a “setTowingCapability” method mayallow obtaining and setting, respectively, the value of the“TowingCapability” attribute which designates whether the transportationresource object has towing ability.

The class 800 may include a “renderTransportationResource” method thatvisually renders a representation of a transportation resource object ona user interface. Exemplary representations may include, but are notlimited to, an icon rendered on the user interface to represent atransportation resource object. In an exemplary embodiment, the“renderTransportationResource” method may be specific to the particularclass in which it belongs so that a different icon type is rendered fora different class of transportation resource. For example, the “Truck”class may include a “renderTransportationResource” method that renders atruck representation, while the “Trailer” class may include a“renderTransportationResource” method that renders a trailerrepresentation.

In exemplary embodiments, the “renderTransportationResource” method mayuse the “get” methods to obtain the values of one or more attributes,and may use the attribute values in customizing and/or updating therendering of the representation of the class object. In an exemplaryembodiment, the value of the “Identifier” attribute may be rendered onthe user interface, for example, as a pop-up component associated withthe representation, on the representation directly, and the like. In anexemplary embodiment, the value of the “Type” attribute may be used tocustomize the representation, for example, an oversize truck may berepresented by a larger than usual representation, a refrigerated truckmay be represented using a different representation than anon-refrigerated truck, and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, thevalue of the “Size” attribute may be used to customize therepresentation of the class object (for example, a high capacity truckmay be represented by a larger than usual icon), or may be representedon the user interface, for example, in a pop-up component associatedwith the representation, on the representation directly, and the like.In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Availability” attributemay be used to customize the representation, for example, an availabletruck may be represented in a different color than an unavailable truckor using a different type of representation than an unavailable truck.In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Location” attribute may beused to render the transportation resource representation at arepresentation of its current geographical location on a geographicalmap. The value of the

“Location” attribute may be periodically obtained using the getLocationmethod to update the representation of the location of a moving resourceon the map. In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Operator” maybe rendered on the user interface, for example, as a pop-up component onthe representation, on the representation directly, and the like.

The class 800 may include a “startDrag” method and an “endDrag” methodfor tracking, respectively, the start and end of a drag-and-drop useroperation in which a representation representing a class object isdragged and dropped from one location to another location on a userinterface. The “startDrag” method may begin tracking the movement of therepresentation on the user interface and its overlap with any other userinterface components. The “endDrag” method may end the tracking of therepresentation and may determine if the representation is dropped in anoverlapping position with a second component on the user interface. Thesecond component may be a load representation, a transportation resourcerepresentation, a geographical location representation, and the like. Inone example, a truck representation may be dragged and dropped onto aload representation to assign the truck to the load. In another example,a truck representation may be dragged and dropped onto a location on theuser interface (representing a geographical location) to dispatch thetruck to the destination location. The “endDrag” method may determine asecond class object and/or a second class associated with the secondcomponent. The “endDrag” method may output the identity of the secondobject associated with the second component to a “transmitAssignment”method to assign the transportation resource object to the secondobject.

The “transmitAssignment” method may transmit an assignment of thetransportation resource object associated with the method to the secondobject identified by the “endDrag” method. In one example, thetransportation resource object (e.g., a truck) may be assigned to asecond transportation resource object (e.g., a trailer). In this case,the “transmitAssignment” may send a message or assignment to atransportation manager or an operator of the transportation resourceobject that the resource (e.g., the truck) is to be matched with thetransportation resource corresponding to the second object (e.g., thetrailer). The “endDrag” method may determine the identifier of thetransportation resource corresponding to the second object by queryingthe “getIdentifier” method associated with the second object.

In another example, the transportation resource object (e.g., a truck)may be assigned to a load object. In this case, the “transmitAssignment”may send a message or assignment to a transportation manager or anoperator of the transportation resource object that the resource (e.g.,the truck) is to be dispatched to transport the load associated with theload object. The “endDrag” method may determine the identifier of theload by querying the “getIdentifier” method associated with the loadobject, and the “transmitAssignment” method may determine thedestination to which the load is to be transported by querying the“getDestination” method associated with the load object.

In an exemplary embodiment, the “transmitAssignment” method may use the“setAvailability” method to set the value of the “Availability”attribute of the transportation resource object to indicate that theresource is unavailable. In an exemplary embodiment, the“transmitAssignment” method may use the “renderTransportationResource”method to update the representation used to represent the object on theuser interface. For example, the “renderTransportationResource” methodmay use the change in the value of the “Availability” attribute tochange a color of the representation (e.g., from a green icon to a redicon), a type of the representation, and the like, to represent that thepreviously available resource has now become unavailable.

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary class 900 defined forloads. One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that any suitableclass structure and class components may be used to define loads, andthat such class structures and components are not limited to theillustrative embodiment of FIG. 9.

The class 900 may include one or more attributes 902 associated with aload object including, but not limited to, a unique identifier of theload (e.g., Load No. 2342), one or more types of the load (e.g.,perishable, non-perishable, hazardous, toxic), the size of the load(e.g., dimensions, volume, weight), the priority level for thetransportation of the load (e.g., high priority, medium priority, lowpriority), the assignment status of the load (e.g., whether the load hasalready been assigned to a transportation resource for transportation),a vendor of the load if any, the current geographical location of theload (e.g., a periodically updated GPS location, a street location or adescriptive location of the load), a physical destination address forthe load (e.g., the GPS location, a street location or a descriptivelocation of the destination of the load), and the like.

The class 900 may include one or more methods 904 associated with a loadobject. Exemplary embodiments may provide a code generation module forgenerating code associated with the methods 904. The code may beexecuted at run time to perform the functionality encapsulated in themethods 904.

In exemplary embodiments, the class 900 may include one or more “get”methods for obtaining the values of one or more attributes of a classobject and one or more “set” methods for setting the values of one ormore attributes of a class object. In an exemplary embodiment, a“getIdentifier” method and a “setIdentifier” method may allow obtainingand setting, respectively, the value of the “Identifier” attribute whichdesignates the unique identifier of a load object. A “getType” methodand a “setType” method may allow obtaining and setting, respectively,the value of the “Type” attribute which designates one or more typesassociated with a load object. A “getSize” method and a “setSize” methodmay allow obtaining and setting, respectively, the value of the “Size”attribute which designates the size, volume and/or weight associatedwith a load object. A “getPriority” method and a “setPriority” methodmay allow obtaining and setting, respectively, the value of the“Priority” attribute which designates the priority level for thetransportation of a load object. For example, a high priority loadobject may be assigned for transportation before a lower priority loadobject. A “getAssignmentStatus” method and a “setAssignmentStatus”method may allow obtaining and setting, respectively, the value of the“AssignmentStatus” attribute which designates whether a load object hasbeen assignment to a transportation resource for transportation. A“getVendor” method and a “setVendor” method may allow obtaining andsetting, respectively, the value of the “Vendor” attribute whichdesignates a vendor of a load object. A “getLocation” method and a“setLocation” method may allow obtaining and setting, respectively, thevalue of the “Location” attribute which designates the currentgeographical location of a load object. A “getDestination” method and a“setDestination” method may allow obtaining and setting, respectively,the value of the “Destination” attribute which designates a geographicaldestination location for a load object.

The class 900 may include a “renderLoad” method that visually renders arepresentation of a load object on a user interface. Exemplaryrepresentations may include, but are not limited to, a representationassociated with a load object. In exemplary embodiments, the“renderLoad” method may use the “get” methods to obtain the values ofone or more attributes, and may use the attribute values in customizingand/or updating the rendering of the representation associated with theload object.

In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Identifier” attribute maybe rendered on the user interface, for example, as a pop-up componentassociate with the representation, on the representation directly, andthe like. In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Type” attributemay be used to customize the representation, for example, a perishableload may be represented using a different representation than anon-perishable load, and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the valueof the “Size” attribute may be used to customize the representation (forexample, a very large load may be represented by a larger than usualicon), or may be represented on the user interface, for example, in apop-up component on the representation, on the representation directly,and the like. In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Priority”attribute may be used to customize the representation, for example, ahigh-priority load may be rendered using a blinking representation ormay be highlighted in any other suitable way. In an exemplaryembodiment, the value of the “AssignmentStatus” attribute may be used tocustomize the representation, for example, an unassigned load may berepresented in a different color than an assigned load or using adifferent type of representation than an assigned load. In an exemplaryembodiment, the value of the “Vendor” attribute may be rendered on theuser interface, for example, as a pop-up component associated with therepresentation, on the representation directly, and the like.

In an exemplary embodiment, the value of the “Location” attribute may beused to render the load representation at a representation of itscurrent geographical location on a geographical map. The value of the“Location” attribute may be periodically obtained using the getLocationmethod to update a representation of the current geographical locationof a moving load on the map. In an exemplary embodiment, the values ofthe “Location” attribute and the “Destination” attribute may be used torender a geographical map on the user interface so that representationsof both the current location and the destination location of the loadare viewable on the same interface by a user. In an exemplaryembodiment, the value of the “Destination” attribute may be rendered onthe user interface in association with the load representation, forexample, as a pop-up component associated with the representation, onthe representation directly, and the like.

The class 900 may include a “startDrag” method and an “endDrag” methodfor tracking, respectively, the start and end of a drag-and-drop useroperation in which a representation of a load object is dragged anddropped from one location to another location on a user interface. The“startDrag” method may begin tracking the movement of the loadrepresentation on the user interface and its overlap with any other userinterface components. The “endDrag” method may end the tracking of theload representation and may determine if the load representation isdropped in an overlapping position with a second component on the userinterface. For example, a load representation may be dragged and droppedonto a transportation resource representation to assign the load to thetransportation resource. The “endDrag” method may determine a secondobject and/or a second class associated with the second component. The“endDrag” method may output the identity of the second object associatedwith the second component to a “matchLoadWithResource” method to matchthe load object to the second object associated with the secondcomponent. The “endDrag” method may determine the identifier of thesecond object by querying the “getIdentifier” method associated with thesecond object.

The “matchLoadWithResource” method may match the load object associatedwith the method to the second object identified by the “endDrag” method.In an exemplary embodiment, the load object may be matched to atransportation resource object (e.g., a truck). In an exemplaryembodiment, the “matchLoadWithResource” method may use the“setAvailability” method to set the value of the “AssignmentStatus”attribute of the load object to indicate that the load has been assignedfor transportation. In an exemplary embodiment, the“matchLoadWithResource” method may use the “renderLoad” method to updatethe representation of the load object on the user interface. Forexample, the “renderLoad” method may use the change in the value of the“AssignmentStatus” attribute to change a color of the representation(e.g., from a green icon to a red icon), a type of the representation,and the like, to represent that the previously unassigned load has beenassigned for transportation.

IV. Exemplary Computing Devices

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an exemplary computing device 1000 thatmay be used in to perform any of the methods provided by exemplaryembodiments. The computing device 1000 includes one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media for storing one or morecomputer-executable instructions or software for implementing exemplaryembodiments. The non-transitory computer-readable media may include, butare not limited to, one or more types of hardware memory, non-transitorytangible media (for example, one or more magnetic storage disks, one ormore optical disks, one or more USB flashdrives), and the like. Forexample, memory 1006 included in the computing device 1000 may storecomputer-readable and computer-executable instructions or software forimplementing exemplary embodiments. The computing device 1000 alsoincludes processor 1002 and associated core 1004, and optionally, one ormore additional processor(s) 1002′ and associated core(s) 1004′ (forexample, in the case of computer systems having multipleprocessors/cores), for executing computer-readable andcomputer-executable instructions or software stored in the memory 1006and other programs for controlling system hardware. Processor 1002 andprocessor(s) 1002′ may each be a single core processor or multiple core(1004 and 1004′) processor.

Virtualization may be employed in the computing device 1000 so thatinfrastructure and resources in the computing device may be shareddynamically. A virtual machine 1014 may be provided to handle a processrunning on multiple processors so that the process appears to be usingonly one computing resource rather than multiple computing resources.Multiple virtual machines may also be used with one processor.

Memory 1006 may include a computer system memory or random accessmemory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, and the like. Memory 1006 mayinclude other types of memory as well, or combinations thereof.

A user may interact with the computing device 1000 through a visualdisplay device 1018, such as a computer monitor, which may display oneor more user interfaces 1020 that may be provided in accordance withexemplary embodiments, for example, the exemplary interfaces illustratedin FIGS. 4 and 7. The visual display device 1018 may also display otheraspects, elements and/or information or data associated with exemplaryembodiments, for example, views of databases, maps, photos and videos oftransportation resources and loads, and the like. The computing device1000 may include other I/O devices for receiving input from a user, forexample, a keyboard or any suitable multi-point touch interface 1008, apointing device 1010 (e.g., a mouse). The keyboard 1008 and the pointingdevice 1010 may be coupled to the visual display device 1018. Thecomputing device 1000 may include other suitable conventional I/Operipherals.

The computing device 1000 may also include one or more storage devices1024, such as a hard-drive, CD-ROM, or other computer readable media,for storing data and computer-readable instructions and/or software thatimplement exemplary embodiments of an integrated transportationmanagement system 1032 as taught herein. Exemplary storage device 1024may also store one or more databases for storing any suitableinformation required to implement exemplary embodiments. The databasesmay be updated by a user or automatically at any suitable time to add,delete or update one or more items in the databases.

Exemplary storage device 1024 may store one or more load databases 1026for storing information on loads, e.g., loads that need to be procured,loads that need to be shipped, and the like. Load database 1026 may alsoinclude information on each load including, but not limited to, theweight and/or volume of the load, the geographical location of the load,the type of geographical location at which the load is located (e.g.,vendor location, a store location or a storage location), thegeographical destination location for the load, the status of the load(e.g., whether the load is waiting for pick-up, is in transit, or hasbeen delivered), the type of the load (e.g., whether the load is dry orperishable), the amount of time that the load has been waiting fortransportation, the priority status of the load (e.g., high priority formedications), and the like.

Exemplary storage device 1024 may store one or more transportationresource databases 1028 for storing information on transportationresources that may be used in transporting loads, e.g., vehicles,drivers, and the like. Transportation resource database 1028 may alsoinclude information on each transportation resource including, but notlimited to, the capacity of the resource (e.g., the weight or volumecapacity of a truck, the work hours of a driver), the geographicallocation of the resource, the status of the resource (e.g., whether atruck or driver is available or is in transit), the type of the resource(e.g., whether a truck is refrigerated), and the like.

Exemplary storage device 1024 may store one or more map databases 1030for storing any suitable maps or mapping information on one or moregeographical areas throughout which transportation operations may beperformed. Map database 1030 may also include additional informationincluding, but not limited to, the geographical distribution of loadsand/or transportation resources throughout the area, trafficinformation, weather information, and the like.

The computing device 1000 may include a network interface 1012configured to interface via one or more network devices 1022 with one ormore networks, for example, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network(WAN) or the Internet through a variety of connections including, butnot limited to, standard telephone lines, LAN or WAN links (for example,802.11, T1, T3, 56kb, X.25), broadband connections (for example, ISDN,Frame Relay, ATM), wireless connections, controller area network (CAN),or some combination of any or all of the above. The network interface1012 may include a built-in network adapter, network interface card,PCMCIA network card, card bus network adapter, wireless network adapter,USB network adapter, modem or any other device suitable for interfacingthe computing device 1000 to any type of network capable ofcommunication and performing the operations described herein. Moreover,the computing device 1000 may be any computer system, such as aworkstation, desktop computer, server, laptop, handheld computer, tabletcomputer (e.g., the iPad™ tablet computer), mobile computing orcommunication device (e.g., the iPhone™ communication device), or otherform of computing or telecommunications device that is capable ofcommunication and that has sufficient processor power and memorycapacity to perform the operations described herein.

The computing device 1000 may run any operating system 1016, such as anyof the versions of the Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, thedifferent releases of the Unix and Linux operating systems, any versionof the MacOS® for Macintosh computers, any embedded operating system,any real-time operating system, any open source operating system, anyproprietary operating system, any operating systems for mobile computingdevices, or any other operating system capable of running on thecomputing device and performing the operations described herein. Inexemplary embodiments, the operating system 1016 may be run in nativemode or emulated mode. In an exemplary embodiment, the operating system1016 may be run on one or more cloud machine instances.

V. Exemplary Network Environments

FIG. 11 is a diagram of an exemplary network environment 1100 suitablefor a distributed implementation of exemplary embodiments. The networkenvironment 1100 may include one or more servers 1102 and 1104 coupledto one or more clients 1106 and 1108 via a communication network 1110.The network interface 1012 and the network device 1022 of the computingdevice 1000 enable the servers 1102 and 1104 to communicate with theclients 1106 and 1108 via the communication network 1110. Thecommunication network 1110 may include, but is not limited to, theInternet, an intranet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide AreaNetwork), a MAN (Metropolitan Area Network), a wireless network, anoptical network, and the like. The communication facilities provided bythe communication network 1110 are capable of supporting distributedimplementations of exemplary embodiments.

In an exemplary embodiment, the servers 1102 and 1104 may provide theclients 1106 and 1108 with computer-readable and/or computer-executablecomponents or products under a particular condition, such as a licenseagreement. The computer-readable and/or computer-executable componentsor products may include those for providing and rendering an exemplarytransportation resource management user interface. The clients 1106 and1108 may provide and render an exemplary graphical user interface usingthe computer-readable and/or computer-executable components and productsprovided by the servers 1102 and 1104. In an exemplary embodiment, theclients 1106 and 1108 may transmit information on a transportationoperation defined by the user using the user interface to the servers1102 and 1104 that may, in turn, automatically execute thetransportation operation.

Alternatively, in another exemplary embodiment, the clients 1106 and1108 may provide the servers 1102 and 1104 with computer-readable andcomputer-executable components or products under a particular condition,such as a license agreement. The computer-readable andcomputer-executable components or products may include those forproviding and rendering an exemplary integrated transportation resourcemanagement user interface. For example, in an exemplary embodiment, theservers 1102 and 1104 may provide and render an exemplary graphical userinterface using the computer-readable and/or computer-executablecomponents and products provided by the clients 1106 and 1108. In anexemplary embodiment, the servers 1102 and 1104 may transmit informationon a transportation operation defined by the user using the userinterface to the clients 1106 and 1108 that may, in turn, automaticallyexecute the transportation operation.

VI. Equivalents

In describing exemplary embodiments, specific terminology is used forthe sake of clarity. For purposes of description, each specific term isintended to at least include all technical and functional equivalentsthat operate in a similar manner to accomplish a similar purpose.Additionally, in some instances where a particular exemplary embodimentincludes a plurality of system elements, device components or methodsteps, those elements, components or steps may be replaced with a singleelement, component or step. Likewise, a single element, component orstep may be replaced with a plurality of elements, components or stepsthat serve the same purpose. Moreover, while exemplary embodiments havebeen shown and described with references to particular embodimentsthereof, those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that varioussubstitutions and alterations in form and detail may be made thereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention. Further still, otheraspects, functions and advantages are also within the scope of theinvention.

Exemplary flowcharts are provided herein for illustrative purposes andare non-limiting examples of methods. One of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize that exemplary methods may include more or fewer stepsthan those illustrated in the exemplary flowcharts, and that the stepsin the exemplary flowcharts may be performed in a different order thanthe order shown in the illustrative flowcharts.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a computational transportation resourcemanagement system, a method for configuring a graphical user interfacefor management of transportation resources, the method comprising:constructing a query to request information associated with one or moretransportation resources and one or more loads in a geographic regionfrom one or more databases; programmatically rendering a map of thegeographical region on the graphical user interface in the computationaltransportation resource management system; programmatically populatingthe map with graphical representations of a set of one or more availabletransportation resources at representations of current geographicallocations of the one or more transportation resources based on theinformation associated with the one or more transportation resources,each of the representations of a set of one or more availabletransportation resources associated with one or more data structuresincluding one or more functions and one or more attributes;programmatically populating the map with graphical representations ofone or more unassigned loads at representations of current geographicallocations of the one or more loads based on the information associatedwith the one or more loads, each of the representations of a set of oneor more unassigned loads associated with one or more data structuresincluding one or more functions and one or more attributes, the one ormore attributes including a size or a type of the one or more loads;receiving user input selecting, directly on the map, graphicalrepresentations of a first set of one or more loads; executing the oneor more functions included in the one or more data structures toevaluate the one or more attributes associated with the selected firstset of one or more loads and the one or more attributes associated withthe available transportation resources; in response to evaluating theone or more attributes, automatically reconfiguring the graphical userinterface by execution of the one or more functions to refine thegraphical representations of the set of transportation resourcesrendered on the map by populating the map with a subset of the set oftransportation resources suitable for transporting the selected firstset of loads; receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,graphical representations of a first set of one or more transportationresources and graphical representations of the first set of one or moreloads, wherein two or more transportation resources from the first setof one or more transportation resources are combined in response to userinput selecting graphical representations of the first set of one ormore transportation resources to create a combined transportationresource for assignment to one of the selected first sets of loads;determining that the two or more transportation resources forming thecombined transportation resource are incompatible for combination;executing code to display an error message in the graphical userinterface in response to determining that the two or more transportationresources forming the combined transportation resource are incompatiblefor combination; receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,graphical representations of a second set of one or more transportationresources wherein two or more transportation resources from the secondset of one or more transportation resources are combined in response touser input selecting graphical representations of the two or moretransportation resources from the second set of one or moretransportation resources; determining that the two or moretransportation resources from the second set of one or moretransportation resources forming the combined transportation resourceare compatible for combination; receiving user input selecting, directlyon the map, graphical representations of the second set of one or moretransportation resource and dragging and dropping the selected graphicalrepresentations of the second set of one or more transportationresources onto graphical representations of the first set of one or moreloads; executing code to generate one or more combined graphicalrepresentations, on the map, replacing the graphical representations ofthe second set of one or more transportation resources and the first setof one or more loads, the one or more combined graphical representationsindicating one or more transportation operations in which the selectedsecond set of one or more transportation resources is assigned totransport the first set of one or more loads from one or moregeographical pickup locations to one or more geographical destinationlocations; and executing code to perform the one or more transportationoperations based on the user input on the graphical user interface. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: automatically updating thecurrent geographical locations of the one or more transportationresources and the one or more loads on the map.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising, upon definition of the transportation operationin which the first set of transportation resources is assigned totransport the first set of loads: automatically updating a status of thefirst set of transportation resources to indicate that the first set oftransportation resources is unavailable; and automatically updating astatus of the first set of loads to indicate that the first set of loadsis assigned for transportation.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: upon selection of the first set of transportation resources,automatically recommending the first set of loads suitable fortransportation using the first set of transportation resources.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the first set of loads is recommended basedon the current geographical locations of the first set of transportationresources.
 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the first set of loads isrecommended based on a type, a volume capacity and/or a size capacity ofthe first set of transportation resources.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising: upon selection of the first set of loads,automatically recommending the first set of transportation resourcessuitable for transporting the first set of loads.
 8. The method of claim7, wherein the first set of transportation resources is recommendedbased on the current geographical locations and/or the geographicaldestination locations of the first set of loads.
 9. The method of claim7, wherein the first set of transportation resources is recommendedbased on a type, a volume and/or a size of the first set of loads. 10.The method of claim 1, wherein performance of the transportationoperation comprises: transmitting a message to a transportationmanagement entity to transport the first set of loads using the firstset of transportation resources to the one or more destinationaddresses.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein defining thetransportation operation comprises: dragging and dropping, on the map,representations of the first set of loads onto representations of thefirst set of transportation resources.
 12. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,representations of the one or more geographical destination locationsfor transporting the first set of loads.
 13. The method of claim 1,wherein two or more of the transportation resources are represented onthe map using different types of representations and/or differentcolored representations.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein two or moreof the loads are represented on the map using different types ofrepresentations and/or different colored representations.
 15. The methodof claim 1, wherein the information from the one or more databasesincludes at least one of GPS information, GIS information, trafficconditions, weather conditions, type of transportation resource, size oftransportation resource, availability status, operator information, typeof load, size of load, priority level, assignment status, or vendoridentification.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein the size of the loadincludes a dimension of the load, a volume of the load, or a weight ofthe load, and the type of the load includes a perishable load, anon-perishable load, a hazardous load, or a toxic load.
 17. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving user input selecting, directlyon the map, the one or more combined graphical representations anddragging and dropping the selected one or more combined graphicalrepresentations onto a graphical representation of the one or moregeographical destination locations.
 18. A computational transportationresource management system for configuring a graphical user interfacefor management of transportation resources, the system comprising: adisplay device for displaying the graphical user interface; and aprocessor programmed to: construct a query to request informationassociated with one or more transportation resources and one or moreloads in a geographic region from one or more databases, render a map ofthe geographical region, populate graphical representations of one ormore available transportation resources on the map at representations ofcurrent geographical locations of the one or more transportationresources based on the information associated with the one or moretransportation resources, each of the representations of a set of one ormore available transportation resources associated with one or more datastructures including one or more functions and one or more attributes,populate graphical representations of one or more unassigned loads onthe map at representations of current geographical locations of the oneor more loads based on the information associated with the one or moreloads, each of the representations of a set of one or more theunassigned loads associated with one or more data structures includingone or more functions and one or more attributes, the one or moreattributes including a size or a type of the one or more loads, receiveuser input selecting, directly on the map, graphical representations ofa first set of one or more loads, execute the one or more functionsincluded in the one or more data structures to evaluate the one or moreattributes associated with the selected first set of one or more loadsand the one or more attributes associated with the availabletransportation resources, automatically reconfigure the graphical userinterface by execution of the one or more functions to refine therepresentations of the set of transportation resources rendered on themap in response to evaluation of the one or more attributes bypopulating the map with a subset of the set of transportations resourcessuitable for transporting the first set of loads, receive user inputselecting, directly on the map, graphical representations of a first setof one or more transportation resources and graphical representations ofthe first set of one or more loads, wherein two or more transportationresources from the first set of one or more transportation resources arecombined in response to user input selecting graphical representationsof the first set of one or more transportation resources to create acombined transportation resource for assignment to one of the selectedfirst sets of loads, determine that the two or more transportationresources forming the combined transportation resource are incompatiblefor combination, execute code to display an error message in thegraphical user interface in response to determining that the two or moretransportation resources forming the combined transportation resourceare incompatible for combination, receive user input selecting, directlyon the map, graphical representations of the first set of one or moretransportation resources wherein two or more transportation resourcesfrom the first set of one or more transportation resources are combinedin response to user input selecting graphical representations of the twoor more transportation resources, determine that the two or moretransportation resources forming the combined transportation resourceare compatible for combination, receive user input selecting, directlyon the map, graphical representations of the second set of one or moretransportation resource and dragging and dropping the selected graphicalrepresentations of the second set of one or more transportationresources onto graphical representations of the first set of one or moreloads, execute code to generate one or more combined graphicalrepresentations, on the map, replacing the graphical representations ofthe second set of one or more transportation resources and the first setof one or more loads, the one or more combined graphical representationsindicating one or more transportation operations in which the selectedsecond set of one or more transportation resources is assigned totransport the first set of one or more loads from one or moregeographical pickup locations to one or more geographical destinationlocations, and execute code to perform the one or more transportationoperations based on the user input on the graphical user interface. 19.The computer system of claim 18, wherein the processor is furtherprogrammed to: automatically update, on the map, the currentgeographical locations of the one or more transportation resources andthe one or more loads.
 20. The computer system of claim 18, wherein theprocessor is further programmed to, upon definition of thetransportation operation in which the first set of transportationresources is assigned to transport the first set of loads: automaticallyupdate a status of the first set of transportation resources to indicatethat the first set of transportation resources is unavailable; andautomatically update a status of the first set of loads to indicate thatthe first set of loads is assigned for transportation.
 21. The computersystem of claim 18, wherein the processor is further programmed to: uponselection of the representations of the first set of transportationresources, automatically recommend the first set of loads suitable fortransportation using the first set of transportation resources.
 22. Thecomputer system of claim 21, wherein the first set of loads isrecommended based on the current geographical locations of the first setof transportation resources.
 23. The computer system of claim 21,wherein the first set of loads is recommended based on a type, a volumecapacity and/or a size capacity of the first set of transportationresources.
 24. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the processor isfurther programmed to: upon selection of the first set of loads,automatically recommend the first set of transportation resourcessuitable for transporting the first set of loads.
 25. The computersystem of claim 24, wherein the first set of transportation resources isrecommended based on the current geographical locations and/or thegeographical destination location of the first set of loads.
 26. Thecomputer system of claim 24, wherein the first set of transportationresources is recommended based on a type, a volume and/or a size of thefirst set of loads.
 27. The computer system of claim 18, whereinperformance of the transportation operation comprises: transmitting amessage to a transportation management entity to transport the first setof loads using the first set of transportation resources to thedestination address.
 28. The computer system of claim 18, whereindefining the transportation operation comprises: dragging and dropping,on the map, representations of the first set of loads onto therepresentations of the first set of transportation resources.
 29. Thecomputer system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further programmedto: receive user input selecting, directly on the map, a representationof the geographical destination location for the first set of loads. 30.The computer system of claim 18, wherein two or more of thetransportation resources are represented on the map using differenttypes of representations and/or different colored representations. 31.The computer system of claim 18, wherein two or more of the loads arerepresented on the map using different types of representations and/ordifferent colored representations.
 32. In a computational transportationresource management system, one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia storing computer-executable instructions for performing a methodfor configuring a graphical user interface for management oftransportation resources, the method comprising: constructing a query torequest information associated with one or more transportation resourcesand one or more loads in a geographic region from one or more databases;programmatically rendering a map of the geographical region on thegraphical user interface in the computational transportation resourcemanagement system; programmatically populating the map with graphicalrepresentations of a set of one or more available transportationresources at representations of current geographical locations of theone or more transportation resources based on the information associatedwith the one or more transportation resources, each of therepresentations of a set of one or more available transportationresources associated with one or more data structures including one ormore functions and one or more attributes; programmatically populatingthe map with graphical representations of one or more unassigned loadsat representations of current geographical locations of the one or moreloads based on the information associated with the one or more loads,each of the representations of a set of one or more unassigned loadsassociated with one or more data structures including one or morefunctions and one or more attributes, the one or more attributesincluding a size or a type of the one or more loads; receiving userinput selecting, directly on the map, graphical representations of afirst set of one or more loads; executing the one or more functionsincluded in the one or more data structures to evaluate the one or moreattributes associated with the selected first set of one or more loadsand the one or more attributes associated with the availabletransportation resources; in response to evaluating the one or moreattributes, automatically reconfiguring the graphical user interface byexecution of the one or more functions to refine the graphicalrepresentations of the set of transportation resources rendered on themap by populating the map with a subset of the set of transportationsresources suitable for transporting the selected first set of loads;receiving user input selecting, directly on the map, graphicalrepresentations of a first set of one or more transportation resourcesand graphical representations of the first set of one or more loads,wherein two or more transportation resources from the first set of oneor more transportation resources are combined in response to user inputselecting graphical representations of the first set of one or moretransportation resources to create a combined transportation resourcefor assignment to one of the selected first sets of loads, determiningthat the two or more transportation resources forming the combinedtransportation resource are incompatible for combination, executing codeto display an error message in the graphical user interface in responseto determining that the two or more transportation resources forming thecombined transportation resource are incompatible for combination,receiving user input selecting, directly on the map, graphicalrepresentations of the first set of one or more transportation resourceswherein two or more transportation resources from the first set of oneor more transportation resources are combined in response to user inputselecting graphical representations of the two or more transportationresources, determining that the two or more transportation resourcesforming the combined transportation resource are compatible forcombination, receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,graphical representations of the second set of one or moretransportation resource and dragging and dropping the selected graphicalrepresentations of the second set of one or more transportationresources onto graphical representations of the first set of one or moreloads; executing code to generate one or more combined graphicalrepresentations, on the map, replacing the graphical representations ofthe second set of one or more transportation resources and the first setof one or more loads, the one or more combined graphical representationsindicating one or more transportation operations in which the selectedsecond set of one or more transportation resources is assigned totransport the first set of one or more loads from one or moregeographical pickup locations to one or more geographical destinationlocations; and executing code to perform the one or more transportationoperations based on the user input on the graphical user interface. 33.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 32,wherein the method further comprises: automatically updating the currentgeographical locations of the one or more transportation resources andthe one or more loads on the map.
 34. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 32, wherein the method furthercomprises, upon definition of the transportation operation in which thefirst set of transportation resources is assigned to transport the firstset of loads: automatically updating a status of the first set oftransportation resources to indicate that the first set oftransportation resources is unavailable; and automatically updating astatus of the first set of loads to indicate that the first set of loadsis assigned for transportation.
 35. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 32, wherein the method furthercomprises: upon selection of the first set of transportation resources,automatically recommending the first set of loads suitable fortransportation using the first set of transportation resources.
 36. Theone or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 35, whereinthe first set of loads is recommended based on the current geographicallocations of the first set of transportation resources.
 37. The one ormore non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 35, wherein thefirst set of loads is recommended based on a type, a volume capacityand/or a size capacity of the first set of transportation resources. 38.The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 32,wherein the method further comprises: upon selection of the first set ofloads, automatically recommending the first set of transportationresources suitable for transporting the first set of loads.
 39. The oneor more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 38, wherein thefirst set of transportation resources is recommended based on thecurrent geographical locations and/or the one or more geographicaldestination locations of the first set of loads.
 40. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 38, wherein the firstset of transportation resources is recommended based on a type, a volumeand/or a size of the first set of loads.
 41. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 35, wherein performanceof the transportation operation comprises: transmitting a message to atransportation management entity to transport the first set of loadsusing the first set of transportation resources to the one or moredestination addresses.
 42. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 35, wherein defining the transportationoperation comprises: dragging and dropping, on the map, representationsof the first set of loads onto representations of the first set oftransportation resources.
 43. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 35, wherein the method furthercomprises: receiving user input selecting, directly on the map,representations of the one or more geographical destination locationsfor transporting the first set of loads.
 44. The one or morenon-transitory computer-readable media of claim 35, wherein two or moreof the transportation resources are represented on the map usingdifferent types of representations and/or different coloredrepresentations.
 45. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 35, wherein two or more of the loads are represented onthe map using different types of representations and/or differentcolored representations.